Guardian Ghost
by Fireblade K'Chona
Summary: One-shot. Set before Suze wanders into Jesse's afterlife...Jesse's POV.


Disclaimer: I own nothing! Except the character!  
  
Okees, this is my take on what Jesse did for those 150 years before he met Suze...  
  
Muse Responsible: Jaedre. His first bit of work since June.  
  
Told from Jesse's POV. Maybe 12 years before Suze came to Carmel.  
  
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I watched as several men moved boxes into my room.  
  
Well, not actually MY room anymore, but rather the room I have stayed in for 138 years.  
  
A little girl came bouncing in. She couldn't be more than five.  
  
She looked like my own youngest sister. A wave of sadness passed through me. My sister had died young of a fever. I watched her die, but could not speak to her, could not touch her...  
  
Could not say goodbye.  
  
The girl stood by the window-right next to me, actually-and watched as the men took a frame out of the box and assembled it into a bed.  
  
She grew bored and bounded down the stairs.  
  
I watched the men, having nothing else to do. In about two hours, the girl's room was ready.  
  
She came bouncing back into the room, saw the bed, and jumped onto it with a squeal of delight.  
  
A wave of protectiveness passed through me. Suddenly, I was filled with a new sense of purpose-I would watch over this girl as long as she lived in this house.  
  
And after her, there would be others...  
  
My new role as "Guardian ghost" came into play that night, when the windows were open. In the morning, I knew the air would be filled with chilly fog- I closed the windows for her and watched her sleep.  
  
Several days later, the girl took her tricycle outside and began to ride it around the driveway. I watched from the side, making sure...  
  
"Don't go out the driveway, Anna," called her mother from inside the house.  
  
Anna looked at her mother, then at the street outside, then at the window again.  
  
Her face formed into a picture of five-year-old stubbornness, and she pedaled towards the hill.  
  
She paused at the top-then gravity took over.  
  
Anna rushed forward on her tricycle, laughing at first, then screaming as she couldn't stop.  
  
I materialized feet ahead of her and used my power to slow the wheels.  
  
The tricycle stopped-but Anna went tumbling forward.  
  
Into the intersection.  
  
Alarmed, I caught her as well and moved her back so she was in front of the trike.  
  
Anna's mother came running down the hill, her eyes wide and anxious.  
  
When she saw the trike stopped on a slope and her daughter crying in the street, she scooped her up and took the trike by the handlebars.  
  
Satisfied, I dematerialized.  
  
Anna was scraped up a bit, but nothing too serious. She was sent off to preschool smiling.  
  
I followed her to the bright, sunny room where they played games and sang songs.  
  
That day, they had a trip to the beach. I followed her there as well...  
  
The day was mild and the waves small. Seeing this, the supervisors agreed to let the children swim. One was a lifeguard-she climbed to the chair and watched.  
  
Anna and the other children swam for nearly an hour-but then, the other children decided to see who could go farthest into the ocean before losing their nerve and running back.  
  
The tie came between Anna and a boy. The boy, taller than Anna, went out as far as he could, then laughed, sure of his triumph-and Anna went in.  
  
She swam for a long time. I floated beside her with growing alarm. A six- year-old should not swim this far-  
  
An undertow snatched Anna from the surface and dragged her under. The whistle from the lifeguard's tower blew, and the lifeguard came diving in.  
  
I was closer. Diving down, I found Anna flailing at the water, trying to come back up.  
  
Swimming close, I pressed upwards with my mind. Anna rose in response. Coming back to the surface, I pulled her up the rest of the way and held her there as the lifeguard grabbed her.  
  
Making sure the lifeguard wouldn't be caught as well, I followed them back to shore.  
  
This "Guardian Ghost" business went on for several years. In the meantime, accident-prone Anna fell off jungle gyms, got caught in more undertows-but the most memorable was when she was eight.  
  
Anna was walking home as usual when a man stopped her. I sensed trouble instantly.  
  
The man offered Anna some candy. Being a good eight-year-old, and well taught about strangers, she refused.  
  
The man offered her a ride home. I could see her thinking about the hill versus a car...  
  
She accepted the car. Heart sinking, I slid into the backseat to continue watching over her-  
  
The man drove in the wrong direction. I gave him about thirty seconds before stopping the engine.  
  
The man swore at his car and said he'd walk Anna home.  
  
Getting out, Anna followed the stranger trustingly.  
  
"Don't trust him," I said, knowing she could not hear me.  
  
The man walked through an alley and stopped. Anna stopped too.  
  
"Come here," said the man.  
  
I could tell what he would do, and before he could do it, I intervened.  
  
In my role as a Guardian Ghost, my rule was to not intervene until the situation was irreversible. Now was the time.  
  
I took a rock and raised it high-then dropped it.  
  
The man, knocked out, fell like a stone.  
  
His cellphone lay near his prone body. I nudged Anna towards it.  
  
She picked it up and called 911.  
  
"Good girl," I said, still knowing she could not hear.  
  
The police arrived several minutes later and took both into custody. "This kid has a guardian angel or something. There's no way she'd have been able to knock out a grown man like that," said one of the policemen.  
  
I smiled.  
  
The years went past, and I fondly watched over Anna.  
  
As she grew older, she grew less accident-prone, and she needed me less and less.  
  
Finally, her mother said to her that they were moving.  
  
I was shocked fro a moment-then relaxed.  
  
I was satisfied with the work I had done to keep Anna safe. Now, it was time for her to learn to survive on her own.  
  
But...  
  
That night, her mother came into the room as Anna slept. She looked around, then said, "I don't know if you're there, but if you are-thanks. Anna might have died dozens of times if it wasn't for you. Thank you."  
  
Bemused, I watched her leave.  
  
The day Anna left, she stood and looked around her room one last time.  
  
I said, "Now is the time for you to go free, young one."  
  
Anna smiled at me.  
  
I still don't know if it was illusion, or if she had heard me that one time.  
  
A carpenter bought the house and remodeled it. Andy, as I learned his name was, had a new stepdaughter moving here...into my old room.  
  
The day she was supposed to arrive, I sat on the window seat and waited, fully ready to play my role as Guardian Ghost once more.  
  
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...okees, that was random. I hope you liked.  
  
One-shot! One-shot! No more!  
  
Reviewers get pain au chocolat!  
  
~Fireblade K'Chona 


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